


7:59PM

by maroonian (eganov)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Earth C (Homestuck), Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2020-02-29 22:35:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18787627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eganov/pseuds/maroonian
Summary: Sollux Captor didn't intend to get sucked into any sort of mess after the grace of SBURB brought him back on Earth C, but a scant time before 12th Perigee's Eve at 7:59PM he gets sucked into a mess that was far more than he'd bargained for.





	7:59PM

**Author's Note:**

> Original Post: 12/2/12  
> Reposted: 5/11/19
> 
> concept completely revamped because the old version had bad associations. reposted because i still felt bad about keeping the old stats from the other gutted broken version

There were so many things that Sollux genuinely disliked about Earth C, and that wasn’t just because of his whole pessimism shtick. Granted, most of the things that he vastly disliked were human-influenced changes to the world he was generally familiar with. Like tabloids. Generally, tabloids in Alternia had to be approved of by the Empress or the reigning Heiress, whoever was alive and more involved in the every day politics of the empire—well, unless they were Feferi. Because she just stayed in hiding.

But human tabloids were much different, and the amount of ceaseless gossip and downright lies that ended up published for the sake of blind sensationalism and revenue was just far more than Sollux could really stand on a daily basis. Especially when taking into account that the creators, friends of his, were almost exclusively the subject of the gossip. It got particularly grating whenever some saucy mostly fake article with a few pellets of truth was dropped about Dave and Karkat’s relationship, since Karkat would always take an absurd amount of their feelings jams to complain about it all.

So now, standing in the checkout line of a local grocery store, a few scant days away to 12th perigee’s eve, Sollux could only glare at the tabloids he saw out on display, begging innocent shoppers to pick them up and give but a cursory glance to their contents and get a malformed idea about what the contents were about. He wondered if the poor underpaid clerk would care if he fizzled the wretched things with his psionics, but relented; if he caused a scene, Karkat would flip out and then he would never hear the end of it. Basically, not worth the effort. Unfortunately there wasn’t much to do other than stare blankly at the tabloids as he waited for the lady in front of him to finish paying. He looked around, practically feeling the boredom dig its claws into his pan.

He glanced outside for a brief moment. Dismay filled him as he finally took notice that the flakes of snow that had started up when he entered the safety of the shop had continued to fall, and already he could see there was a decent build up of snow that would just make things even colder than they’d already been. One thing he hated more than tabloids was the weather changes that came with Earth C. In the place he lived on Alternia, snow was little more than a myth, since it tended to be a more temperate area and heavily populated by lowbloods.

Sollux contemplated texting Karkat and asking him if he’d get Jade to teleport Sollux back to his house, but relented. He wasn’t about to kick up a fuss like that, considering how he wanted to keep a low profile himself. By no means was he considered a creator, and despite Karkat wanting to include him in the bunch it just felt superficial and fake. He hadn’t been part of the initial group to arrive on Earth C. He was just a ghost that was given a second life by the fickle whims of SGRUB, and frankly he wouldn’t have really minded if he was left to the bubbles.

His ears flicked and he turned to the door as the bell jingled, revealing a man in a heavy coat whose form was tense. His eyes were fixed to the cashier, and there was a furrow of worry to his brow, lip twisted into a deep frown. There was a bag in the crook off his elbow that the man set next to the bagging area of the register; vaguely, curious, Sollux peaked, and saw a variety of deli meats, a plastic container of soup, and some bread. “Joey,” The man said, “No dice. I can’t find the guy.”

The cashier stopped mid-scan, looking up at the newcomer. “What?” From looking bored and desperately wanting to go home. “Doesn’t he always stay in the same place?”

“Not this time. Couldn’t find him anywhere near his usual haunt.”

Sollux, brow twitching a bit as he looked down to the watch Aradia had gotten him before she disappeared to who knows where (doing her duties as Maid of Time she said). Time was crawling by and the snowfall was only getting heavier. Finally, he huffed, and folded his arms. “Can I get to the point where I pay and fuck off to the bowels of the universe?”

He was back to hating talking, as the universe of Earth C saw it fit to bring him back with a full set of fangs, eyes and all the miserable bells and whistles that came with it. The man looked to him, frowning.

“Look, you’re the last customer. This guy’s homeless and the snow’s kicking in. I don’t care what he says about seadwellers and cold tolerance, it’ll be too cold even for him and seadwellers have frozen to death before.”

Now that was something that was vaguely interesting to latch onto. “A homeless seadweller?”

“Yeah,” The cashier said, now moving to get Sollux’s remaining items scanned. He was definitely working much faster than he had been before. Sollux pulled out the required funds, handing it off and then taking the remaining change once his payment had been processed. “Skinny fucker, stays away from people like the plague. Streak in his hair.”

Sollux was now fully attentive, ears pricking up. “Streak?” He was highly suspicious at this point; it couldn’t just be a coincidence that there was some seadweller guy that had a streak, but it was the part about said streaked seadweller being homeless that really got to him. “You know what his horns look like?”

The cashier and newcomer both shook their heads. “Keeps himself bundled up in too many scarves to really tell,” The newcomer said. “But they’re vertical horns, point up right. Probably jagged.”

That was more than coincidence.

Sollux frowned deeply, now intent on finding him. “Hey, I’ve got psionics and can probably cover more area than you. I could try and find him and give him this stuff.”

The cashier seemed rather unconvinced, suspicious as he folded his arms. “You’re just a random customer in this shop, why would you be invested enough to do that? Don’t you guys like, freeze in the cold?”

Sollux grumbled. “Look, do you want the help or not? Either way I’m going to go out and look for him, even if I don’t have a bag of food for him.”

The newcomer spared a contemplative glance his way before huffing quietly. “Fine. Just call in if you’ve found him. I’d hate to see the poor bastard end up another statistic in the news.”

“Yeah. Sure.”

That was the story of how Sollux left the store, bundled up to the nines, immensely disgruntled and cursing the snow as he carried two bags. He took to the sky, his eyes glowing as he looked around the alleys surrounding the deli. Sollux was out much longer than he’d like to admit, chasing down this possible ghost from his past, when he noticed the clothed lump huddled up near a dumpster. He paused his search, feeling a nagging feeling that this snow-dusted figure was his target. There was an itch of the voices at the edge of his mind, something he’d been gradually learning to tune out. Now, however, it seemed to be screaming at him to listen.

So he did.

The voice, faint, associated with potential doom, had him landing quickly, rushing to the side of the lump. He reached forward, dusting snow from the person’s form. He saw scarves. He pulled them back. And his breath caught in his throat, his eyes widening in realization.

He had been dead on the money. In the distance, he could hear the sounds of Frosty the Snowman echoing out of a nearby shop. He looked down at his watch, the glow of his eyes lighting it up as he felt for a pulse. Sluggish, even for a seadweller.

It was 7:59 PM, and he had found Eridan Ampora, homeless, half-way to freezing from hypothermia.


End file.
